Allow myself to introduce...myself (?!)

(This might get long, so if you have some studying to do, please disregard )


Hey guys, LONG time lurker, first time poster (I think I registered what, a year and a half ago??). I suppose I didn’t think i would come this far, but now, I have no doubts about the path I’m on.


I am currently 39 yo, married for 16 years, with a 9 yo son and a 7 yo daughter. I have been a respiratory therapist for 17 years now. Even during RT school when I was 21, I had seriously considered medical school. My doctor at the time said it wasn’t a good thing because “you take your patients home with you, you worry about them, etc”. In hindsight (after working in the medical field) I realized that physicians don’t hold the monopoly on caring, but being young and impressionable and haven’t even really started the career I had schooled for, I put that dream on hold. Like an itch you can’t scratch, it never really left me. I had stopped/started the process a few more times through the years (much to my wife’s chagrin) to where I am now in my 4th serious consideration. I had never been this far before though, actually taking the classes I need instead of just dreaming about it.


I was going part-time in the evenings at a local CC (to fit my work schedule) in 2011 when I had the glorious fortune of being laid-off from my RT job at a DME. After some serious discussions with my wife, she went back to work full-time (she is an RT as well, ironically for a competitor to my old work, LOL) and I started classes full-time to accelerate the process. I have been blessed by such a supportive and understanding lady and she is fully onboard with the dream as well.


Now, I am in the middle of my first semester at ETSU (which has a med school attached!) doing the ‘RT Degree Completion’ for allied health professionals who only have an associates degree and supplementing the pre-med sciences into it as well (talk about a dream schedule, the RT classes are online and I can take my sciences at the satellite location in Kingsport (my hometown) instead of the main campus 30 minutes away, blessed again).


During my first go-round, I was lucky I didn’t do worse than the 2.8 gpa that I had managed, considering I was the usual immature slacker back then. Since starting back in Spring 2011, I have knocked out 26 more credits (including Gen Bio I and II), earning a 3.89 in the process, bringing me up to a 3.2. I’m now working through Gen Chem I along with the classes for my B.S. (still have the orgo and physics to go, of course).


I’ve had more than my fair share of wrestling with FUD during all of this, but I’ve decided that the only way I’m not getting into medical school is when the adcoms say so, not me or my own doubts.


So that is my formal introduction. I can’t turn back now…I am officially an “Old PreMed”

Excellent Austin Powers throwback… =)


Welcome! Thanks so much for reaching out and making us a part of your journey. Please continue to keep us posted on your progress.


After being an OPMer for 2 years, I have only in the past couple of months come across more Tennessee forum posters, and I’m so excited! We are growing a presence–wo hoo!


I was just accepted to Quillen, so I may be joining you over there next year…I was so impressed by the program, the people, and the students I encountered at ETSU. Beautiful place! I really wanted an acceptance there, and I was totally honored to get that call. I think it’s an amazing school!


Again, congratulations on all you’ve accomplished, and from one Tennessean to another? WELCOME!!!

Holy Crap…you’re going to be at QCOM? That is so cool! I knew you had gotten accepted (per your sig) but didn’t know it was over here. With you, I had always thought, “not if, but where” you would get in (long time lurker, remember? lol). But yeah, they seem to be a great school, very family oriented and very open to non-trads. (I had been talking to a 42 yo PA there who is MS III I beleive).


It would be very cool if I could get in there, due to those factors and the proximity. If all goes well (yeah right) I would be MS I in Fall of 2015. I’ve got a tour this Saturday at LMU’s DO school as well (which is about 1 1/2 hours away). My wife seems to think that is where I’ll end up, lol. Our PCP is a DO, so we both are familiar with osteopathy as well.


Thanks for the Volunteer state welcome.

Oh, wow–that’s so kind of you! I was a little nervous, because I only applied to 4 schools (all the TN MD programs)…so odds were against me. Just totally thrilled to get a ‘yes’ this early!


My other schools will have a hard sell to beat QCOM…I was just totally won over. =)


I’ve heard nothing but good things about LMU-DCOM, too, though. I hope you have a great experience there this weekend. You’ll have to let me know what you think about it!


Thanks again… and best of luck!

Welcome SilverKnight!


Keep moving forward. After years on thei forum in a perpetual state of FUD it took me getting canned to find the courage to do what I have to do. Keep moving forward and don’t spend too much time listening to your internal dialogue of FUD. Use it to motivate you. “I may not be X enough and that’s why I’m working harder…”


Welcome aboard the gravytrain of crazy!!